Providence City Council

At one of the coziest campaign kickoffs in recent memory, Justice Ameer Gaines announced her bid for Providence City Council for Ward 1, encompassing the Fox Point, Wayland, and Downtown neighborhoods. A well-regarded local activist, Gaines promises to be one of the most progressive candidates running for a municipal seat in the city. She has […]

‘We are not taking sides in this case. We have nothing to say about this. We are neither agreeing with the plaintiffs (CLF and Town of Burrillville) nor are we agreeing with the Defendants (Invenergy and City of Johnston)…”

The choice that Providence now has in the Superior Court lawsuit is whether to side with a Delaware corporation, based in Chicago, that wants to build a dirty, carbon-emitting, diesel oil and fracked gas power plant in a rural Rhode Island community or side with local citizens and environmentalists that oppose this unneeded and dirty plant.”

Yurdin (Ward 1) rose to speak about the reasons for his resolution, but sending the resolution to committee seemed a foregone conclusion as Matos had already spoken before Yurdin rose. After Yurdin spoke, Matos repeated her order to send the resolution to committee.

It was a fruitful seven days for progressive Democrats in Rhode Island, with two big wins in the last two Democrat primaries. Last week Nirva LaFortune won in Ward 3, Providence City Council and this week Dawn Euer emerged victorious in Senate District 13 (Newport & Jamestown). These were excellent results for two good candidates […]

Congratulations to Nirva LaFortune for her big win in the Ward 3 primary election. She fought an excellent campaign and in the debates she was articulate and passionate. She was also forthcoming when interviewed and came across as a forward thinking candidate, wanting to seek lasting, long term solutions for her neighbors and for the […]

But receivership or bankruptcy is a very drastic solution. The way it impacted every day people in Central Falls was shocking and a lot of people made money off of that. A lot of people managed to profit off the misfortune of others. We should be avoiding it at all costs.

For me, because I am on School Board and also because I have kids, schools are a big priority. Beyond that, affordable housing is a big issue. It is another one that is a city-wide issue that has a local impact as well.

In the end, common ground was found and every instance of contentious wording in the draft ordinance was settled via unanimous agreement by members of the CSA Working Group. The final version of the Community Safety Act (CSA) was officially approved and will be now ready to be voted on by the full Providence City Council on June 1.

“I listen to the radio quite a bit,” said Robert Boehm, president of the Providence FOP, “and the CSA has become that negative word for a lot of people who look at the struggle that we’re going through with this.”

The third meeting of the Community Safety Act Working Group got into the more contentious elements of the ordinance. At issue is the so-called “gang database” used by the Providence Police Department to track gang members and affiliations.